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Just some general chit-chat on this Monday morning.

And a refreshing picture of ice water and lemon. Though it seems the ice has all melted. Ha!

Tomorrow it will be five weeks since my surgery. I can tell I feel stronger each week. I really felt good right after my surgery all things considered. I think back now, though and realize I was tired and sore. It’s all in perspective and in what you’re dealing with at a certain time or for each given day. I’m still taking it rather easy and slow. Slower than I want at times. I like to do things myself and for myself.

One of my friends came by over the weekend with her cuddly, baby boy. I snuggled and tickled him some, but only while I was sitting. He’s heavy enough that carrying him is still out for me right now. Playing with my baby nieces during our Christmas get-togethers was the same thing!

If sheer willpower could heal me, I’d be up and running. I WANT to just be better. But I don’t WANT to rely on my strength.

In Christ Alone.

Just like this gorgeous necklace over at The Rusted Chain says.

I just told my husband this morning that I can feel so exasperated with myself sometimes. There are truths I grasp onto, cling to, because they are LIFE. I believe them so deeply and I want to go deeper still in them with Jesus. YET, then I can turn around and get irritated over trivial things or get grumpy or feel like that certain person is STANDING ON MY LAST NERVE AND IT FEELS LIKE IT’S THE SCIATIC NERVE, AT THAT.

I’m learning NOT to let Satan mire me in these thoughts either, though. It’s dangerous, dangerous ground. I can’t rely on me, but I can’t drown myself in self-doubt and despair either.

I’m choosing to keep clinging and keep asking for forgiveness. I’m also learning a bit about boundaries in life and sometimes you DO have to stand up and draw a line and say, “Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you. Jesus can take care of both of us. BUT you stomp on my sciatic every single time and it’s time for that to quit.”

In other news, if you like to look at or set a pretty table, you can find our Christmas table and gingerbread men over in this post, if you missed it. And another post from the past couple of weeks is this one over here, IN WHICH I talk about War Room and pom-poms!

We had several gray days last week. I lit candles and it was cozy. We had some appointments, but we had a good bit of time to just enjoy home. And Renae and I had a little rejoice on Wednesday evening when we were at home instead of cleaning the doctor’s office. 🙂 I really didn’t mind the job, but I really didn’t mind not going to clean last week either! 🙂

The sun popped back out over the weekend and we were happy to see it.

I did some crafting and have several blog posts rolling around in my head and ideas jotted on paper. There’s some dust and construction going on behind the scenes here and hopefully soon I will have some things updated.

I have several projects jotted down in a list that I hope to work on. Transferring them to paper helps me remember them and often helps me do them, even though I don’t always get to them as quickly as I’d like.

I also have a couple spaces I want to re-organize when time and back allow.

I just noticed that this is #1003 blogpost. Wow. I’m having a little celebrate! 🙂 I noticed a bit back that I was nearing 1,000 posts. Then I promptly forgot about it. Until this morning when I noticed that here we were ~ #1003.

From around the web ~

Right now you can snag The Fringe Hours e-book for just $2.99. I like, like this book!

If you are on Instagram and love the pretty pictures that so many people share on Ig, then go peek at this account and follow if you want! I absolutely love her photos.

The verse for the day on Bible Gateway this morning was this ~

Psalm 118:5-6

I ran across this past post from here at A Delightful Glow last week, chatting about some of my favorite books.

These place card holders made from old, book pages are fantastic! Plus, they’re made by my sister. I’ve started some of my own.

Have a happy January week! And stop back tomorrow! There’s going to be a book giveaway!!